Property News
Property sales rise on the Costa del Sol
The latest data on property sales in Malaga confirms the positive market trend of the past year, with a rise of more than 14% in transactions completed in July, the biggest rise for the same period since 2008.
Spain’s National Statistics Institute has just revealed figures for residential property sales in Spain for the month of July and the province of Malaga ranks above both the regional and national averages, registering a 14.5% increase compared to the same month in 2014.
The overall number of properties sold in Malaga during July – 2,228, compared to 2,313 in July 2008 – is still well down on the pre-crisis total for the month of 3,599, but represents the best result in the last seven years.
Less than 20% of homes sold were new, reflecting the relative lack of new-build properties currently available in the market, although this share looks set to rise over the rest of 2015 and next year, as more new developments are completed.
Nationally, house sales increased by 13.9% in July compared to 2014, to reach a total of more than 32,700 deals for the year, to date. Although slower than June, which represented a 17% increase in comparison to the year before, the rise in July marks the eleventh consecutive month of growth.
Andalusia remains the most popular area of Spain for property buyers, with almost 6,750 deals completed in the autonomous community, followed by Catalunya, Valencia, and Madrid. Malaga alone accounts for almost a third of the total of the region.
July’s data reinforces the return to growth witnessed in the Malaga marketplace over the last couple of years, since the all-time low of March 2013, when less than 1,000 homes changed hands during the monthly period.
Over 14,500 properties had already been sold in the province in the first six months of this year, 13% higher than the previous year and 30% more than in 2013.
Prices are climbing, too
After six years of falling house values, Spanish property prices are also now firmly on the rise, with the second quarter of 2015, registering a 4% increase in average prices compared to the same period last year.
This is not only a 1.5% increase over the first quarter of the year, but also represents the largest jump since the last quarter of 2007 and is the fifth successive three-month period in which house prices have risen. New properties increased in value nationwide by almost 5%, while the price resale homes climbed by some 3.8%.
All of this is clearly good news for vendors who have held on to their homes during the darkest hours of ‘la crisis’ and who may be thinking of selling in the near future.
On the other hand, it should also come as a reminder to buyers who may have had doubts about entering the marketplace over the last few years that now is the time to move, before prices continue to climb any higher.
By Adam Neale | Property News | September 11th, 2015
